TRIP TO SISTERS

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We had made plans to visit with friends from our days in Portland. They have now moved to Bend, Oregon, so we planned to meet them in Sisters for lunch. Again we were fortunate to have a sunny day though there were some clouds when we left Salem. To get to Sisters we drove East up Hwy 26 along the North Santiam River. This brought back memories of when Dwain would take David and Mike canoeing on that river when the boys were young.

In Sisters we had a great visit with our friends, catching up on family news. After lunch Dwain and I took off to capture pictures of the area before returning to Salem.

Fortunately the clouds had burned off enough so we could see most of the mountains as you will see in the pictures. One place I really wanted to go was to the headwaters of the Metoleous River. The river actually runs underground, then flows out of the ground and north toward Mount Jefferson. This whole area is so beautiful with tall pines trees, blue water and snow covered mountains in the distance. From there we started making our way back down highway 20 toward Sweet Home and Albany. Much of the forest has been devastated by forest fires and it will take many years for the new growth to cover that land again. Also along the way we passed Black Butte and lava fields left from previous volcanic activity in the area.

As we were driving into Sweet Home Dwain noticed a sign to a covered bridge which meant another detour. Oregon has a total of 51 covered bridges. The Covered Bridge Society of Oregon founded in 1978 decided to fight for saving and restoring many of these bridges. Legislation was established in 1987 to fund preservation of these treasures. These wooden bridges were covered to keep the huge truss timbers dry so they could last at least 80 years or more.

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Comments

[lois cartmell]

Especially liked the Three Sisters mountains and the horses galloping in front. How did you manage that ?
Glad you are having a wonderful time. Your pictures are so nice I want to take a trip to Oregon!

[Mary Boulding]

Great pictures Beautiful Oregon
The Sisters brought back memories RVING on one of our East to West trips, leaving Bend heading to Eugene. It really is beautiful country. We didn't get to see all you covered.